Donald M. Grant (DMG) has announced a new limited book containing the revised edition of "The Gunslinger" and the short story "Little Sisters of Eluria". I'll start out by listing what's known and then follow up with a Q & A section.

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Here is the official news from Grant:

• A limited edition book will be released by DMG containing both "The Gunslinger" and the short story "Little Sisters of Eluria" in one volume
• The book will be illustrated by Michael Whelan and will contain new art as well as the art originally published in the first edition of "The Gunslinger".
• Orders will NOT be taken at this time, any questions directed to Grant about the book will either go unanswered or will refer you to their website.
  
  

Here is unofficial news from
folks that attended Palavercon and/or who work closely with Grant

• A SIGNED limited edition is planned
• An artist edition is planned
• There will be no trade edition of this book
• There will be new cover art for the book (Done by Whelan)
• A total of 8 new drawings/paintings will be included in the book
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OK folks, I've created this Q&A to answer some of the questions that people have been asking.

I want to stress that answers will consist of my own opinions based off my experience over the years, and may not wind up reflecting what DMG finally does. In fact I'm sure I won't be 100% accurate.
That being said I've been collecting for a number of years now and have seen many S/L books that have been released. I also talk to many collectors, publishers, and sellers often and as such can put forth some educated guesses that may help you get your hands on one of these books when the time comes.

Q) Wow, a new Gunslinger book, how can I get my hands on one?
A) While a final decision on that has not been reached; for the last few releases DMG has used the following system:
-- If you own a copy of DMG's latest limited edition book (in this case a S/L DT-VII) DMG would allow you to reserve the new book with the exact same number. So as an example, if you owned copy #123 of the S/L The Dark Tower, then DMG would give you the opportunity to purchase copy #123 of the Revised Gunslinger at the publisher's price.

-- Artist Edition (AE) books work slightly differently. Artist editions are pretty new on the scene, and while they still have a small print run, are not numbered and are signed only by the Illustrator of the book (Michael Whelan in this case).
If you bought a copy of DMG's latest AE book directly from DMG (in this case the AE edition of The Dark Tower) then DMG would give you the opportunity to purchase an AE edition of the Revised Gunslinger at the publisher's price.

I think that it's most likely that DMG will continue this system. It's worked well for them in the past, and seems to be a very fair way to ensure that people an opportunity to continue collecting the same numbered book. It also rewards customers who bought from DMG directly instead of a third party source such as ebay.

Q) I bought my limited edition copy on ebay, or somewhere besides DMG. What Can I do?
A) Well, again I'm not saying this will be DMG's distribution method for sure; but currently DMG will allow you to register your copy on their website. This would (Traditionally) enable you to reserve a matching number of the next DMG book. What you need to do is open up the book and take a picture of the signature page (make sure you can see the book # clearly) and send the picture with your completed form. To get to the registration form click here

Q)I bought my Artist Edition copy on ebay, or somewhere besides DMG. What Can I do?
A) If you did not buy your AE edition from Grant you'd pretty much be out of luck for the initial offering. So far DMG has always offered first shot at the AE books to people who have bought directly from DMG.... If extra books were available once existing customers then they would be made available thru some other system such as a lottery drawing or bundled as a package deal with another book.

Currently you can still get a copy of the AE edition of DT-VII directly from DMG if you buy their Dark Tower Special Offer. This offer consists of a Gift Edition of Blackhouse/Talisman combined with an AE edition of The Dark Tower for $165. While I think there's a pretty good chance that buying this deal will get you first crack at the new AE Revised Gunslinger; I make no guarantees that buying this set will help you get an AE edition, nor is this a recommendation that you should buy the set. I'm simply mentioning this as a possibility.

Q) I'm brand new to collecting and have never ordered from Grant before, is there a chance I can still get a copy somehow at the publishers price?
A) Usually DMG takes any unclaimed copies (yes some people don't buy copies reserved for them) and puts them in a lottery. If this happens DMG will announce rules for entering the lottery and I'll make sure to post them. The lottery doesn't happen until AFTER the book is released. DMG may also try to bundle any extra copies of the AE edition with other books they have laying around.

Q) How large will the limited edition print runs be?
A) I'm envisioning four scenarios, which I'll put down, under no circumstances do I expect a limited edition print run of more then 2,000 copies. Stephen King has already made it clear that he does not like large runs of limited edition books, and will not sign/authorize much more then a 2,000 limited edition. Also investors know that the larger the initial print run, the less the books will be worth on the secondary market. So any print runs approaching 2,000 copies will be worth less.

Scenario 1 -- (Chance of implementation = 70%)
DMG will release a Limited edition run of around 1,600 copies, and an Artist Edition of about 4,000 copies. I think this is by far the most likely to happen and here's why...

DMG has slowly been increasing the limited edition runs of their books. Now in order not to anger a whole lot of customers they need to make at least as many copies as DT-VII so each loyal customer can get a copy. However they need to balance this with Stephen King's desire to not sign too many books and collectors desire to have a book that will increase in value. 1,600 copies is an edition that is large enough to satisfy existing S/L customers and fall well into a range that SK might agree to sign....

As far as Artist Edition books go, I think their latest release of 5,000 AE DT-VII copies was too high. They still have copies available two years after the initial release. By lowering the number to 4,000 (slightly higher then the number of DT-V and VI Artist Editions) they'll have enough to sell to customers without sitting on a huge warehouse of additional books.

Scenario 2 -- (Chance of implementation = 15%)
DMG will release a Limited edition run of around 500 copies, and an Artist Edition of about 5,000 copies. Not to likely but here's why it could happen...

I think a mandate would have to come down from Stephen King; he may want to either "reward" those that have bought his books from the beginning, or simply may not want to sign a lot of books. Keeping the limited edition print run at 500 would be a very simple cut off... if you have a S/L Gunslinger you're going to have a S/L Revised Gunslinger. I don't think DMG would be in favor of this, after all they make money off each book and a run of 500 is going to be a lot less profitable then 1,500. But no matter what DMG wants, it's ultimately it's going to be up to Stephen King

Should this small print run happen though; I think that DMG will go for a larger AE release. With the AE being the only other edition available, demand should go up and they'll have an easier time selling more of these.

Scenario 3 -- (Chance of implementation = 10%)
DMG will release a Limited edition run of around 1,000 copies, and an Artist Edition of about 4,000 copies. Not to likely but here's why it could happen...

In an almost completely different mind set, there may be a decision to offer only 1,000 copies starting with #501. The logic behind this would be that, again, SK does not want to sign too many books and DMG has to keep the print run somewhat low. In that case, seeing that only people with the 500 lowest numbers can ever hope to complete a set, they may offer numbers 501 - 1,500 to help newer collectors complete a numbered set. This would effectively create two type of complete sets; complete sets containing the original Gunslinger and complete sets containing the Revised Gunslinger. Sure a lot of older/die hard collectors are going to be angry, but less folks are going to be angry then in Scenario #2

By keeping the number of AE's to 4,000 (slightly higher then the number of DT-V and VI Artist Editions) they'll have enough to sell to customers without sitting on a huge warehouse of additional books.

Scenario 4 -- (Chance of implementation = 5%)
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE - DMG does something completely different, using a whole new system we've never seen before. As with any new system, some people will be pleased, other will be angry. Certainly possible, but not probable.

Q) Do you think the value of the S/L DT-VII will go up in anticipation of the new release?
A) I think some people will quietly buy a few copies, but there's not going to much difference in price unless DMG actually makes the announcement that you need a S/L DT-VII in order to buy new new Revised Gunslinger If you're one of those people that like to gamble a bit then you might want to consider buying copies now while the price is low, and selling them later when the price is higher. Of course if it turns out DMG uses another system you'll have to unload those copies somewhere.

Q) When will the book be available?
A) No one knows for sure, but DMG's latest newsletter has told readers to expect full details in the begining of 2009. I expect orders will be taken within a couple months of the details being released

Q) How much do I need to save up (how much will the books cost)
A) Again, no official news, but I'm guessing the AE edition will go for between $65 - $80 and the S/L probably between $250 - $350 assuming a good sized print run.

Q) Will the Revised Gunslinger go up in value? How much?
A) Yes both the S/L and AE editions should go up in value. As to how much that all depends on what the final print run will be. Traditionally S/L editions go 1.5 - 3x higher on the secondary market then the initial publisher's price. The last three grant AE have gone up around 2x the initial publishers price (depending on the book)

Q) Why isn't there a trade edition?
A) DMG is a specialty press; they focus on limited edition books. Major publisher's such as Viking normally take care of trade editions, and in fact, Viking already released a revised edition (minus the Little Sisters of Eluria story)

Q) Where Can I get more Information about the release?
A) Right here; I'll be posting new information as soon as it's available.